My paperwhite came today and thankfully had no problems (I live in the UK and sending it back would have been a massive pain).

Screen Fantastic. With the light off the contrast seems identical to my K3 (to my eyes) but you can see the difference in resolution. The fonts are crisper especially at small font size (that I use). The page turns are also quicker, with no ghosting.

Lighting Both incredible and slightly disapointing. If you ignore the bottom half inch it really is remarkable, even looking very closely the screen is evenly lit. It makes the background seem almost a perfect white without making the font less dark (the exception being very high brightness 22+ when the blacks lose some of their darkness). It's a technological marvel how they've done this with 4 LED's at the bottom. However the cost is a poor bottom 1/2 inch which is made up of shadows darker than the rest of the screen inbetween areas brighter than the rest of the screen. It just gets to the bottom line of text when reading. Hopefully a firmware update could increase the blank space at the bottom of the screen otherwise its ask the nice folk in the developers corner to write a hack to leave the bottom inch text free (in a months time when they have the normal hacks sorted of course).

Interface Stunning. The touch screen has been improved beyond recognition for an eink device. It's closer to a top end tablet in touch performance then any eink device I've ever used. I like the new home screen and options menu (when I hid the store behind a password), and they've kept the list mode for those who prefer the old style.

Verdict A great device with some small issues that could be fixed with software updates. I'm very happy with my purchase and can see it being my primary reading device for as long as my K3 was.

You bathtub readers will be happy to know that Paperwhite passes the ziplock test. I'm able to operate it just fine while it is inside a standard Ziplock freezer bag. That's capacitative touch for you. Take that, Nook and Kobo!

Very glad to hear this. I plan to take my PW to the beach next year but would want to keep it in a ziploc plastic bag to prevent damage from sand.

I talked to Amazon and they are sending me two new units. I had ordered one for my sister that was supposed to get here in November, so maybe that's why it shows I will receive two on Tuesday.
The CSRep I talked to was very knowledgeable. I apperciate that he did acknowledged the fact that there are units with issues out there (nothing worse than having CS deny the fact there are issues), and he said that even if it takes sending me yet another one, they will make sure I get a good unit.

He also said it's normal that the PW, when the light is off, has a little less contrast than the K4B because of the lighting layer.

Overall, nothing beats Amazon customer service, and I'm glad I called them. Their CS alone would prevent me from switching to another reader, though the prices help as well

The two replacements seem to be without SO, but I'll see what I get in the mail.

I talked to Amazon and they are sending me two new units. I had ordered one for my sister that was supposed to get here in November, so maybe that's why it shows I will receive two on Tuesday.
The CSRep I talked to was very knowledgeable. I apperciate that he did acknowledged the fact that there are units with issues out there (nothing worse than having CS deny the fact there are issues), and he said that even if it takes sending me yet another one, they will make sure I get a good unit.

Totally agree! I'd like to buy a PW, but I'm going to wait until they get some of these issues sorted out. The fact that they admit that there are "issues" is the first step they can take towards resolving them.

Alas, I have a lousy one. Aside from the four half-US-quarter-sized dark spots at the bottom which everyone has, I have big cloudy splotches. The splotch is blue/cyan colored at the top and tan/plum colored at the bottom.

How prominent they are depends on how bright the light is relative to ambient light. Out in the balcony it's barely noticeable and looks good. Of course my k3 looks great in sunlight too. In a normal bright room, I start to see the splotches. Moving away from the window, where I can still read fine on the k3 but it's maybe a bit dark, I now see splotches clearly on the pw. Closing the windows a bit so the pw can earn its money, the splotches are very distracting now. Going into the closet, ugh. I wouldn't read in the dark anyway because the screen flashes with the light really disturbs me. When I go to the movie and close my eyes during the trailers because they use a lot of quick fade out / fade in, like a flash camera albeit slowed down. I hate that.

Anyway, unlike many people here, I don't expect to read in the dark. I just want something that looks great in optimal light and lets me read comfortably in sub-optimal lighting. This isn't it.

With Light off (or all the way down, anyway), the text on my k3 using default caecillia is darker (it is not even close) and the background on my k3 is lighter. If the higher res on the pw does anything , I can't tell. I haven't been able to put my custom font on, but I think the k3 will win there, too.

On the good side, the touch screen is responsive, and has a nice textured feel to it.i don't like the tap zones though. I'd prefer a neutral zone in the middle that brings up the menu and not have 3/4 of the screen for next page.

Some of my side loaded books have cover and others don't. Anyone knows what it requires? Also, I'd like to turn off the tag displayed at the bottom of the cover.

Conclusion: very disappointed with screen; it is going back. I'm struggling to decide if I should bother with a replacement because 1/ even without splotches, i think the k3 in good lighting will still be more readable because of the darker bolder font (the pw may be more aesthetically pleasing with the white lit background, but the text is faded, so I don't really gain legibility). Maybe this will be addressed with firmware, but I doubt it because most people think the text on the pw is better so why would they change. 2/ ergonomically the k3 is easier for me to use due to my unique handicap. 3/ page buttons, TTS

Compare "perhaps" in the 3rd line with "some four" in the 7th line. Considerable difference in font weights although all of the text is supposed to be the same weight. Thiese differences in weight are more pronounced in the lighter, thinner fonts.

I'd be on the phone to Amazon to get a replacement KPW. That would just bug me big time.

I received my Paperwhite on Thursday and it had two light defects. Two small pinpricks in the bottom left hand corner. Very small and not very noticiable but distracting nonetheless. I called immediately and they are shipping me a new one to get here by Tuesday.

Amazon's CS is great. Hopefully my new one will be fine because I love this device. The light is fantastic and the build quality is great, too.

So-called professional previewers are what I call "jacks of all trades but masters of none." These guys and gals like to be known for being hip and up to date on everything labelled as a gadget. Most of them probably don't even own an eInk reader much less use them enough to know what is important for us to hear about in reviews.

Most reader reviews leave out is how good the software is, how good the overall experience is with the software and they don't compare the full experience if they do compare against other reader(s). This is rather important. The hardware can be great, but if the software isn't so good, then the reading experience won't be satisfying.

Are these available in retail stores? If so, go play with it and see what you think.

I was at Staples today and I went to have a look at the Kindles and all they had was an old Fire, an old touch, old KK 7 old non-touch. None of the new units were available to see. Pretty disappointing given the reviews of the KPW on MR and the fact that I can go see a nook with light in person.

OMG my hubby is that way. I want to spend some time with you he tells me then he clicks on the TV. As long as I am in the room reading or on the Computer it's spending time with each other. The only way this works is if he uses headphones or I am listening to a Audiobook or using earplugs. And don't dare ask him to pause TV to chat because it's so much an inconvenience to do so.